This poor woman was too afraid that a call from Obama was a prank so he hung up on him twice. She even hung up on Emmanuel (she should of at least recognized his voice since he’s a collegue from the House:
Twice on Wednesday, President-elect Barack Obama tried to reach across the partisan divide with a phone call to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida.
And twice, according to her office, she hung up on him.
She “thought it was a hoax,” an aide to the congresswoman said.
In a series of hang-up and follow-up calls that appears to have taken up much of the afternoon, Ros-Lehtinen first received a call on her cell phone, from a Chicago phone number, and was informed by the caller that Obama wished to speak with her. When a man sounding like Obama got on the line, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off, saying, “I’m sorry, but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks.” She then hung up, according to a statement issued by her office.
(via)
posted December 4, 2008 at 9:21 am
“reach across the partisan divide”.
How absurd. This is just a publicity stunt. When the Democrats say “build bipartisan consensus”, they mean “demand the other side shut up and agree, or call them racists”
posted December 4, 2008 at 11:23 am
ZZ is right. Next the Democrats will be arguing that anyone who did not vote for Obama is a racist, therefore all Republicans are racists.
posted December 4, 2008 at 12:12 pm
The fact that she hung up on Rahm Emmanuel, even though they’re colleagues in the House, and that she demanded a story that only another colleague would know before she believed any of what was going on suggests this wasn’t the fault of “wacky DJ’s”. She’s just a paranoid idiot.
It is to Obama’s credit that he still chose to connect with this loon despite her rudeness at hanging up on him twice.
posted December 4, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Righty, that situation has essentially already come to pass..
I actually missed the fact that she was a congresswoman. Yeah, she shouldn’t be so surprised that Obama would be calling her.
But that gives no legitimacy to his insincere posturing. His olive branch has poisoned olives.
posted December 4, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Geez, I thoought this was a funny story and could completely understand why the Congresswoman assumed a call from the President-Elect of another party might be a prank. I don’t assume she was dissing Obama.
Iy was an amusing anecdote and nobody in Obama’s organization has alleged it was anything partisan or racist.
But then I come here and see this bilge from ZZ, claiming that any critic of Obama will be instatntly tarred with the racism brush. I didn’t hear anything like that in the campaign and I don’t anticipate anything like that from the Obama Administration. It’s certainly not anything I believe, and I was an Obama backer from the start.
But, sadly, it looks like we can expect bitter cynicism from some very sore losers who can’t imagine politics without meanness.
posted December 4, 2008 at 3:50 pm
“I didn’t hear anything like that in the campaign”
You must have been living in a cave. On Mars. With your fingers in your ears. Going “blah blah blah blah blah…”
Obama didn’t have to do it personally of course. He deflected criticizm by relying on his rabid entourage.